SOORANAD NORTH (KOLLAM): A sense of robust anticipation is very much in the air as one travels through this panchayat. Paddy, in different stages of ripeness, is awaiting harvest. Farmers are engrossed in de-weeding and a team of women workers are busy putting geo-textile cover to the embankments of the narrow watercourses that criss-cross the panchayat. Sooranad North is getting ready for yet another harvest season that promises unprecedented yields from its paddy fields and vegetable gardens.
Over the past four years, the grama panchayat has been engaged in a collective mission to revive agriculture in this part of the Onattukara paddy belt, a mission in which almost every household in the panchayat is involved in some way or the other. It all began with the preparation of a comprehensive wetland master plan four years ago. With the agricultural activity being fine-tuned as delineated in the master plan and the panchayat deciding on large-scale mechanisation, some farmers were able to produce more than 5.5 tonnes of paddy from one hectare area and earn a profit of Rs.30,000, says panchayat president Madathil Reghu.
Working according to the master plan, the panchayat has succeeded in bringing more than 400 acres of fallow land under paddy, thereby taking paddy farming to almost the entire 1,100 acres of traditional paddy land in the panchayat. More importantly, the panchayat has gone in for full mechanisation in 100 acres out of the 400 acres where paddy farming has been revived. Ten group farming committees in the panchayat have gone in for full mechanisation and efforts are on to bring more samithies into the fold, says Mr. Reghu, who also points out that Sooranad North has been included in the Upper Kuttanad Development Scheme.
A key component of the panchayat's farm development strategy has been the wide use of geo-textiles for the protection of its watercourses. Women have been engaged in giving geo-textile cover to the embankments of the watercourses under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The geo-textile protection has given a new lease of life to the wetlands, says Reghu, who is himself a successful farmer and winner of last year's Best Paddy Farmer Award of the Kollam District Cooperative Bank. C.M. Ravi, another farmer in the panchayat, had won last year's State-level Harita Mithra Award and the Nediyapara Group Farming Samithy last year's State-level best Group Farming Samithy award.
Come Onam and the panchayat would be the market with its own brand of ‘genuine organic vegetables' and it would commission its own rice mill at an estimated outlay of Rs.2 crore. The unit would provide direct employment to around 100 people and indirect employment to over 500 others. The unit would have the capacity to process 4,000 kg paddy and produce 1,000 kg value-added rice products a day.
A team of scientists led by K.P. Sudhir, professor at the Thavannur College of Agricultural Engineering, Malappuram, under the Kerala Agricultural University, is providing technical consultancy support for the project.
With its efforts to revive paddy showing encouraging results, Sooranad North has become the highest producer of paddy in the district and is in the last round among three panchayats in the State competing for the prestigious Nelkathir Award.
According to Mr. Reghu, the panchayat is currently working on the formation of a ‘Labour Bank'.
Sooranad North is also marching towards full coverage in drinking water and power supply.
It has already provided potable water to 90 per cent of the population and given electricity connections to 7,700 out of 8,000 families. It has also constructed 50 houses under the EMS Housing Scheme and provided 20 out of the 27 anganwadis in the panchayat with their own land and building.
Source:The Hindu 19 July 2010
Over the past four years, the grama panchayat has been engaged in a collective mission to revive agriculture in this part of the Onattukara paddy belt, a mission in which almost every household in the panchayat is involved in some way or the other. It all began with the preparation of a comprehensive wetland master plan four years ago. With the agricultural activity being fine-tuned as delineated in the master plan and the panchayat deciding on large-scale mechanisation, some farmers were able to produce more than 5.5 tonnes of paddy from one hectare area and earn a profit of Rs.30,000, says panchayat president Madathil Reghu.
Working according to the master plan, the panchayat has succeeded in bringing more than 400 acres of fallow land under paddy, thereby taking paddy farming to almost the entire 1,100 acres of traditional paddy land in the panchayat. More importantly, the panchayat has gone in for full mechanisation in 100 acres out of the 400 acres where paddy farming has been revived. Ten group farming committees in the panchayat have gone in for full mechanisation and efforts are on to bring more samithies into the fold, says Mr. Reghu, who also points out that Sooranad North has been included in the Upper Kuttanad Development Scheme.
A key component of the panchayat's farm development strategy has been the wide use of geo-textiles for the protection of its watercourses. Women have been engaged in giving geo-textile cover to the embankments of the watercourses under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The geo-textile protection has given a new lease of life to the wetlands, says Reghu, who is himself a successful farmer and winner of last year's Best Paddy Farmer Award of the Kollam District Cooperative Bank. C.M. Ravi, another farmer in the panchayat, had won last year's State-level Harita Mithra Award and the Nediyapara Group Farming Samithy last year's State-level best Group Farming Samithy award.
Come Onam and the panchayat would be the market with its own brand of ‘genuine organic vegetables' and it would commission its own rice mill at an estimated outlay of Rs.2 crore. The unit would provide direct employment to around 100 people and indirect employment to over 500 others. The unit would have the capacity to process 4,000 kg paddy and produce 1,000 kg value-added rice products a day.
A team of scientists led by K.P. Sudhir, professor at the Thavannur College of Agricultural Engineering, Malappuram, under the Kerala Agricultural University, is providing technical consultancy support for the project.
With its efforts to revive paddy showing encouraging results, Sooranad North has become the highest producer of paddy in the district and is in the last round among three panchayats in the State competing for the prestigious Nelkathir Award.
According to Mr. Reghu, the panchayat is currently working on the formation of a ‘Labour Bank'.
Sooranad North is also marching towards full coverage in drinking water and power supply.
It has already provided potable water to 90 per cent of the population and given electricity connections to 7,700 out of 8,000 families. It has also constructed 50 houses under the EMS Housing Scheme and provided 20 out of the 27 anganwadis in the panchayat with their own land and building.
Source:The Hindu 19 July 2010
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